Off to Kyoto

So today (Thanksgiving Monday in Canada) we took a trip to Kyoto, the former capital city of Japan. Kyoto was the seat of the Shogun (samurai lord) during the Edo period (a golden era in Japan which ended about 400 years ago). We had a peek around Nijo-jo, sort of the White House of Kyoto. Throughout the sprawling, centuries-old building were floorboards that creaked as you stepped on them, sounding like singing birds. They're called "Nightengale Floors" and they were an ancient security system, alerting the Shogun to the presence of invaders/assasins. With a crowd of tourists walking on them, the floorboards sounded like an entire flock of warbling little birds.
The picture was taken at our second stop - The Golden Pavillion. It's a Buddhist temple, the top two floors of which are covered in gold leaf. A similar structure has been there for hundreds of years, but the current building is only 50 years old. (All traditional Japanese buildings were constructed entirely of wood, so many of the oldest ones have a long history of burning down and being rebuilt.)
Our last stop was the Zen Garden, another ancient temple. I may have said this before, but for most modern Japanese Buddhism is just a part of their culture - these ancient temples have become tourist destinations rather than true religious centres.

Life has been going well. I (Steve) preached this weekend at the English service at Grace, and the message seemed to be as encouraging as I had hoped. I spoke about the way that God loves to work against apparently impossible odds. Since only 1% of Japanese are Christian, many Christians here feel overwhelmed and are acutely aware of their status as an extreme minority. Most are the only Christian in their immediate family, which can be quite difficult. We are hoping to be an encouragement to many of these lonely Christians.